Pictures and witty comments related to my exploits at home and abroad (by the way, the contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps).

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Choo chooooo! (Doesn't really sound like a train when I type it, but that's what I'm going for)

Stage two of the road to the Peace Corps is underway. Erica just pulled out of the parking lot, leaving me to wait for my train to Philadelphia. The train is running about an hour late. I’m not surprised. Unlike with other train systems (even the Russian ones), I’ve never talked to anyone who’s ridden on an on-time Amtrak train.As I sit here waiting, messing about on the computer for lack of anything better to do, it seems weird to me that I’m nearly gone. I’ve been wasting away all summer, waiting for my departure, waiting to meet my fellow trainees, waiting to do something more useful that sitting around waiting. I get blue with each goodbye, with each facebook message or email wishing me well. But I can’t wait to get going on this next grand adventure.I had to repack my bags after flying up here on Saturday. The bathroom scale that I used to weigh my backpack was apparently a full 8 pounds off and my perfectly packed bag was therefore 4 pounds overweight. Since my carryon was already packed to the gills, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a small rolling duffel and split up the 54 pounds in my large pack into two bags. It's more luggage that I wanted to take but I'm way underweight now, which takes a load off my mind.I had a good time here in Charlottesville with Erica – a perfect combination of cheesy tourism (ie – visiting Monticello) and goofing around (ie - hiking in skirts, sandals, and goofy hats). I even had time to continue Erica’s education in regards to classic movies. I did manage to injure myself at a very inopportune time – cutting my thumb in an attempt to sharpen my pocket knife (doh!) while Erica was in class. But all is well now as I leave for Philadelphia, where I’ll meet up with my fellow Peace Corps trainees and depart for Ghana. Uncle Todd is going to meet me in Philly for my last few free days. I think some Philly Cheesesteaks and baseball are in order.